L.A. artist Nery Gabriel Lemus tackles issues of identity, division and solidarity in a new series of works at Charlie James Gallery in Chinatown. Seen here: "The Meeting of Corky and Bunchy, 2015."

L.A. artist Nery Gabriel Lemus tackles issues of identity, division and solidarity in a new series of works at Charlie James Gallery in Chinatown. Seen here: "The Meeting of Corky and Bunchy, 2015." (Nery Gabriel Lemus / Charlie James Gallery)

In Datebook: a kid's tale retold, portraits in stitches, pattern-filled collage + a night of storytelling

A night of live storytelling, pictures that play with the act of picture-making, a children’s story reinvented, and stitched pieces that evoke innocent childhood games as well as sin. Plus: a longtime L.A. gallerist unveils her new space downtown, 100 walkers take to West Hollywood, and Moby talks architecture in Palm Springs.

“Light, Paper, Process: Reinventing Photography,” at the Getty Museum. Photography isn’t just about the image on the paper. It’s also about the processes that lead those images to appear. This group show features seven contemporary artists — Alison Rossiter, Marco Breuer, James Welling, Lisa Oppenheim, Chris McCaw, John Chiara, and Matthew Brandt — who are all experimenting with ways in which light and chemicals form what we see on the page. Through Sept. 6. 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Nery Gabriel Lemus, “Just So Stories,” at Charlie James. The work of this L.A.-based artist has consistently explored questions of identity and division in his work. For his third solo show at the gallery, he appropriates the themes and tone of Rudyard Kipling’s 1902 book, “Just So Stories,” about how certain animals came to be, and uses them to weave his own creation myths, as well as a tale that is about solidarity between black and brown. Opens Saturday and runs through May 30. 969 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, cjamesgallery.com.

Kim MacConnel, “Avenida Revolución,” at Rosamund Felsen Gallery. This is the first show at Felsen’s new downtown Los Angeles space — and she is kicking it off with an exhibition of MacConnel’s textile-inspired pieces from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Bright abstract patterns evoke African and Latin American painting, with the shiny acrylic paint matted with cotton flocking, for paintings that take on the texture of fabric. Opens at 3 p.m. Saturday and runs through May 16. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., #100, downtown Los Angeles, rosamundfelsen.com.

Jack Davidson, Merion Estes, and a group show, at CB1 Gallery. This weekend brings a trio of new shows to CB1 downtown. The first features the work of painter Jack Davidson: bright collaged pieces that layer materials such as paint, ink, digital elements and even gold leaf and record his journeys around Barcelona, Spain. Keeping the collage theme is Merion Estes, whose bold abstract works bring together paint and fabric in pattern-filled ways. Lastly, the gallery has a group show that features works by five artists dealing with ground and landscape in their work. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, cb1gallery.com.

Alison Rossiter / The J. Paul Getty Museum

A new exhibition at the Getty Center brings together the pieces by artists who are working with photography in unusual ways. Seen here, a 2010 work by Alison Rossiter, who explores questions of processing in her photographic abstractions.

A new exhibition at the Getty Center brings together the pieces by artists who are working with photography in unusual ways. Seen here, a 2010 work by Alison Rossiter, who explores questions of processing in her photographic abstractions. (Alison Rossiter / The J. Paul Getty Museum)

María E. Piñeres, “Sittings,” and the group show “Suggestive Roleplay,” at Walter Maciel Gallery. Piñeres is known for stitched works that run the gamut from portraiture to collections of images that reflect her background. The series “Playland,” for example, uses as a point of inspiration the now-defunct Times Square arcade where she hung out as a youth — an adolescent gathering space surrounded by porn palaces. The gallery will also have a group show of four women artists from the West Coast addressing issues of imitation, fantasy and identity in their work. Opens at 6 p.m. Saturday and runs through May 23. 2642 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, waltermacielgallery.com.

Jack Davidson / CB1 Gallery

CB1 Gallery goes into the weekend with three new shows -- among them an exhibition of collages produced by Jack Davidson. Seen here: "Untitled (Barceloneta 3)," from 2014.

CB1 Gallery goes into the weekend with three new shows -- among them an exhibition of collages produced by Jack Davidson. Seen here: "Untitled (Barceloneta 3)," from 2014. (Jack Davidson / CB1 Gallery)

“Pop-Up Magazine: L.A.,” at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel. In an age of Instagram and Twitter and live blogging, this storytelling show is all about being there. (My colleague Deb Vankin wrote about it back in November.) The concept is simple: A variety of cultural figures — including photographer Alec Soth, New Yorker writer Dana Goodyear and comedian Baratunde Thurston — will take to the stage Sunday and tell some very good stories. None of it will be uploaded to the Web, which means that if you want to hear any of them, you will simply have to attend. To buy tickets and see a list of presenters, see Pop-Up’s listing on eventbrite.com. This Sunday at 7:30 p.m., 929 S. Broadway, downtown Los Angeles, popupmagazine.com and acehotel.com/losangeles.

Richard Kraft, “100 Walkers,” in West Hollywood. If you’re walking around West Hollywood this weekend, you may just run into a person in a bowler hat wearing a sandwich board — then another and another. It’s all part of a work of performance art organized by Kraft, who has organized other walking pieces in places such as Las Vegas and Death Valley. This Saturday from 2-5:30 p.m. in locations around the city, onehundredwalkers.com.

“Inglewood Urban Stage: Construction as Performance,” at Inglewood City Hall. Over the course of a month, artist and architect Cheryl Wing-Zi Wong will be assembling and reassembling a stage into different configurations using a special system of modules. Special events will take place on Friday evenings at 7 and Saturdays at noon throughout the show. Through Saturday. Inglewood City Hall North Plaza, 101 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, cw-zw.com.

“Robert Williams: Slang Aesthetic” at the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery.The godfather of low-brow art has a sprawling one-man show of recent works that includes drawings, paintings, prints and sculpture. Also on view is the related exhibition “20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz,” which brings together the young artists featured in the popular art magazine (which Williams helped found). Through Sunday. Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, lamag.org.

“Beyond Graffiti 2,” at the Architecture and Design Museum. Organized by the Los Angeles Art Collective, this show gathers works by the Phantom, known for his ghost-like figures, Chaz Bojorquez, who makes patterns out of typography, and Kofie, who pulls graffiti toward abstraction — among many others.Through April 23. 6032 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, aplusd.org.

Andrew Gbur, at Team (bungalow). The Pennsylvania-based painter reduces human features to their most basic shapes in his ongoing series of face paintings — an image of a person created with just a few strokes of color. Through May 3. 306 Windward Ave., Venice, teamgal.com.

“The Silence of Ordinary Things,” at The Mistake Room.This benefit exhibition for the downtown arts space brings together the work of 35 artists from all over the world who have been broadly inspired by the work of British filmmaker and installation artist Isaac Julien (the Mistake Room’s 2015 artist honoree.) Through May 9. 1811 E. 20th St., downtown Los Angeles, tmr.la.

Enrique Martínez Celaya, “Lone Star,” at L.A. Louver. The Cuban-born, L.A.-based painter is showing a new body of his ruminative works. The show is bookended by a pair of installations: a sculpture of a young boy with tears dripping into a pool, and another boy trapped in a birdcage. Through May 16. 45 N. Venice Blvd., Venice, lalouver.com.

Max Maslansky, “Jouissance,” at Honor Fraser. Paintings made from found bedsheets, pillows and curtains feature gauzy images of intimate and erotic activities. This is an artist who fuses an adept use of paint, colors and materials with subjects that are both smutty and smart. The exhibition is held in conjunction with 5 Car Garage. Through May 16. 2622 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver city, honorfraser.com.

“Henry N. Cobb: Hypostyle,” at the SCI-Arc Gallery. In architecturespeak, a hypostyle is a roof supported by a series of many columns (as in Egypt's Great Temple at Karnak). In a new installation, architect Henry Cobb, of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, plays with this design, filling the gallery with columnar structures made of hollow core doors. Through May 17. 960 E. 3rd St., downtown Los Angeles, sciarc.edu.

"American Survey, Pt. 1," at Papillion. A group show — described as a “time capsule” of 2015 — gathers work by a variety of (mostly L.A.) artists both new (such as performance artist EJ Hill) and long-running (assemblagist Timothy Washington, who recently had a solo at the Craft & Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles). Through May 17. 4336 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park, Los Angeles, papillionart.com.

“J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free,” at the Getty Center. Turner's canvases were expressive explosions of color and light at a time when many paintings were still pretty darn literal — to this day, their power remains undiminished. This exhibition gathers more than 60 works from his last 15 years of life, a period when Turner produced some of his most enduring works. DO. NOT. MISS.Through May 24. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, getty.edu.

“Alien She” at the Orange County Museum of Art. An exhibition tracks the far-reaching influence of the Riot Grrrl movement of the early '90s, when artists, musicians and other cultural figures created a wide range of work that brought together punk music with gender, sexuality and feminism. Through May 24. 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, ocma.net.

Mark Ruwedel, “Pictures of Hell,” at Gallery Luisotti. This photographer has truly been to hell — visiting places with all kinds of devilish names such as Hell, Devil’s Kitchen and Hell’s Gate and photographing them in the process. Through May 30; there's a reception for the artist 6 p.m. Saturday. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building A2, Santa Monica, galleryluisotti.com.

Kerry Tribe, “The Loste Note,” at 356 Mission. For her latest video/sculpture project, Tribe looks at the neurological condition of aphasia, in which the language centers of the brain are damaged -- hindering a person’s ability to communicate (even as a person’s personality and intellect remain unaffected). Through May 31. 356 S. Mission Road, downtown Los Angeles, 356mission.